“Sure you can,” Luke drawled. “We’re Legends. It’s what we do.”
Ben felt his grin split his face. “Damn straight. But no, I think I got this. You guys hold the fort down at home, and once we wrap up the mess with Hanson, I can focus on Paige. I’ll find a way to convince her to trust me.”
“Atta boy,” Easton teased as he turned the Tahoe into the parking lot at the police station. He killed the engine just as daybreak started to peek through the darkness. “If anybody can get through to her, it’s you. But if you screw it up, just call me. I may be married with a kid, but women still find me irresistible. Just ask Bailee.”
As if they practiced the maneuver, Jackson, Luke, and Ben threw out their fists connecting with Easton’s back, shoulder, and arm with punches meant to be good-natured while still packing some heat behind them.
“Hey!” Easton rubbed the spot on his upper arm. “Punch me all you want. It won’t change the truth.”
Easton scooted out of the Tahoe before they punched him again. Ben and his other brothers followed suit. As they walked as a formidable group into the police station, Ben’s expression turned serious. Even with all the grief his brothers gave eachother, Ben was glad to have them there as he closed the book on this case.
Chapter Thirteen
When she fell into a fitful sleep at three in the morning, she was Charlotte Redding of Ivy Springs, housekeeper by day, recluse by night.
When she woke the next morning, feeling exhausted and frightened, she was Paige Childers, a woman without a place to land.
Paige stood in front of the mirror over her bathroom sink, staring at her reflection, feeling like a stranger was looking back at her. Her eyes were a smoky gray reflecting her sadness, red-rimmed and swollen from the tears she never thought would end last night. Her skin always had the look of someone in need of a day in the sunshine, but this morning, the creamy complexion was washed out. She looked ill and felt like it with the way her heart felt battered and bruised.
Her alarm had jolted her awake as it did every morning she worked at the motel. Though all she wanted to do was roll over and forget the world existed outside her apartment door, she forced herself to go through the motions she completed each day. Brushed her teeth. Showered. Dried her hair only to secure the shorter locks away from her face with a bobby pin or hair tie.
She made her bed before dressing in her black uniform. Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she pulled on hercomfortable shoes. Then her body felt heavy, her stomach rolled with nausea, and her temples began to ache. The idea of standing, much less going to work, felt impossible. Though she knew the questions it would raise and the visitors it would bring to her door, she fired off a quick text to Wally.
Sick. Won’t be in today. Contagious. Talk to you later.
She doubted it would be enough to stop Wally, Mona, or even Birdie from checking on her in concern. But it bought her enough time to fall back against the mattress, pull her knees to her chest, and close her eyes to the pain that wouldn’t let her go.
Since discovering who Ben truly was, memories that she’d believed were forgotten resurfaced. She indulged in them as she lay in a fetal position. She recalled the day she had to tell her old friend she was leaving for good. At six years old, she didn’t understand why her family had to move from Fire Creek. Something about her father receiving a promotion that required them to move to Biloxi, Mississippi. She thought it to be a world away instead of a few hours’ worth of driving.
She had met Ben at their usual place to hang out and play. It was in the wooded area by the neighborhood park. A copse of trees hid a grassy field under the shade of its limbs. It was a perfect spot to play pretend, to have a picnic, or to tell your best friend you weren’t going to see them anymore.
She’d been the first to reach their clubhouse, as they called the open area shielded by trees on all sides. When Ben showed up, she’d been shocked to find his clothes dirty and torn, his hair in need of a comb, and his lip bloody and swollen. The conversation she dreaded having was forgotten when her rage rose to a blinding intensity.
Of course, she didn’t show her anger to Ben. She marched right up to him, touched a soft hand to his cheek, and said one word. “Who?”
He’d covered her hand with his but hung his head low. “D-d-doesn-n-n't m-m-m-mat-t-t-ter.”
Ben’s stutter was severe, but for some reason, when it was just the two of them, it wasn’t as pronounced. Most of the time, Paige hardly noticed, so the fact that he tripped over his words painfully told her all she needed to know.
“I swear Mitch Cason is going to regret messing with you. One day, when you’ve had enough, you’re going to beat him black and blue. Maybe even punch out his front tooth so he talks with a lisp. I saw that on a cartoon once.”
That had brought a faint smile to his lips. She smiled too until she remembered what she had to tell him. She turned her back to him then, sighing with the weight of the adult conversation she had to have.
“You’re going to have to start doing that, you know,” she had said while trying to build her confidence to tell him about her leaving. “Standing up for yourself. You can’t let everyone walk all over you. You’re better than that. You’re better than all of them.”
“N-n-n-not y-y-y-y-you.”
She whirled back around. “Yes, you are. You are so much better than me. You’re strong and brave and smart and kind. You’re good at fishing, and you’re the fastest runner at school. You know more about science than Ms. Maxwell does. And that box you made me to keep my seashells in? I couldn’t do that. No way. So stop putting yourself down. I won’t always be here to tell you this stuff, so you have to remember it.”
“W-w-what d-d-d-do you m-m-mean?”
Paige remembered the dread filling the pit of her stomach when he caught her slip. She almost brushed it off and made it seem like her words had no hidden meaning. But she couldn’t. She was running out of time.
“My family is moving away. Daddy got a new job, and we have to go.”
He was so still she wondered if he heard her. When he finally spoke, she felt like she’d destroyed his world.
“When?” No stutter. Just quiet calm, like he prepared himself for this moment all along.
